Sunday, April 15. Care to RANT?

Apr 15, 2012 4:53 PM

Have a hangnail on your little finger that's driving you crazy? Rant about it. Problem w/a company that has bad customer service? Feel free to yell. Slobs for neighbors - tell us about them. Spew it out; just don't give your address. Hate your co-workers? Give the details; but avoid the company name & department. Caustic relatives - verbally assault them here.

Vague rules: Don't attack anyone for ranting - no matter how petty their rant. Don't name specific members names unless you're well-armed. (Helps to have brains, too.) Politics & religion are subjects that seem to bring about arguments; try to avoid those.

This question is intended to relieve you of stress. And, avoid passing on your anger & endless ranting to family members & friends. They DO get tired of hearing it. We're UNinterested observers & welcome your pathetic tirades. ;-)

My rant today: Taxes. Do not understand how some people pay NO taxes at all & yet can get a REFUND! It defies logic.

Top Answers

@missellienc: Yes, people do get REFUNDS when they've not paid a penny in taxes. They earn enough money that they must file a return, but have 'deductions' - including something called 'earned income credit.' I personally know of someone who doesn't pay taxes & gets a check from the IRS. Sad, but true. /end rant (for a moment anyway.)

Well my business is failing, I have no money, I hate where we live, my 2 year old son said the F word about an hour ago, my cell phone isn't working right and I need to buy another, I need new tires on my crappy car,we ran out of toilet paper and I need to go to the bathroom,my computer is broken, we were going to the pool and it started raining, I stepped in dog poo while taking out the trash while all this is happening I still try and be grateful for what I have, that's whats wrong with America people are to focused on the negativity and not the positive things going on. I own my own business I'm pretty broke but we still find a way to get by, my 2 year old is healthy and smart and loves his daddy, I have the ability to own a cell phone even if it's not the cool new Iphone. It's all about how you look at things I'm a glass half full kinda guy.

@ohcheri: :-( I missed it; the link's tagged for removal. Must say, I've not looked at Craig's site. Have heard a lot of negatives about it, including listing on it. Interesting that they have a section called rants & raves. Well, maybe it's not interesting. :-/

@missellienc: Yes, people do get REFUNDS when they've not paid a penny in taxes. They earn enough money that they must file a return, but have 'deductions' - including something called 'earned income credit.' I personally know of someone who doesn't pay taxes & gets a check from the IRS. Sad, but true. /end rant (for a moment anyway.)

@gmwhit: The people you know must be self employed and have no taxes withheld from their paycheck. I don't know how they do it because you have to pay self employment taxes (if they get a 1099) and I can't imagine having enough deductions to offset it. Maybe they shoud write a book and teach us all how to do it.

Some tax credits are (at least partially) refundable. One common example is the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides a tax credit of up to $2500 towards the first $4000 in qualified educational expenses (100% on first $2000 and 25% on next $2000). Up to $1000 of said credit is refundable, which means that it effectively counts as taxes already paid.

If I did not claim my daughter as a dependant, she would have been eligble for a refund of $1000 + all of the federal taxes she paid. However, I do claim her so that I can get Head of Household status, which lowers my federal tax by much more than the $1000+ she would get back, even though I am not eligle for the American Opportunity Credit due to income limitations.

@captainsuperdawg: "Airline food". You still get food on flights & don't pay??? The only way I know to get that less than delicious meal is on an overseas flight. "grape-nuts." Agree, no grapes or nuts...yet really good! ;-) And Cheerios do not make me 'cheery.' :-|

As another example, a friend of mine owns a small business (a partnership) and effectively pays no personal income taxes. For 2011, they got a $1000 refund as a result of the American Opportunity Credit.

(Before anyone starts ranting about rich people taking advantage of loopholes, be aware that my friend isn't rich by most standards, and does pay a reasonably fair share of taxes, just on the business return rather than on their personal one.)

@missellienc: Sorry about the 'forced' rant. ;-) Am speaking of a family of 4 - NOT self-employed. Does file returns (has to), doesn't 'make enough money' in the eyes of the government. A refund check is issued to them. /end rant again. (Am apparently fixated on this. Sorry, it REALLY irks me.)

@baqui63: Thanks for the explanation. I also saw this - "The IRS lists the "additional child tax credit" and the "first-time homebuyer credit" as examples; if you qualify for these credits, you can receive a refund even if you had no income and paid no taxes."

I'd like to rant about people who put their chewed gum underneath tables, desks, or chairs. Do they not realize how disgusting that is? Is it really that hard to put it in the trash can or swallow it? Or the people who spit it on the ground? Have they never stepped in gum before? Don't they know that eventually their act of laziness is going to ruin some random strangers day? What exactly happened to the wrapper that the gum came in? Most likely they threw that on the ground too. Couldn't theyhave saved the wrapper to put the gum in after they were done chewing. I suggest that we impose restrictions on gum sales and a mandatory gum etiquette before you can obtain a gum purchaser card.

It might be a slight exaggeration but I really hate already chewed gum.

@gmwhit: I just clicked on it and it's still there. Craigslist showcases the best and the worst of the Internet, lots of crap and people exhibiting the very worst of human nature but also tons of cool stuff and perfectly legitimate ads offered by regular folks.

@figgers3036: Unable to discuss this issue in a coherent manner because I find it disturbing. Also, all I think of when I hear "Holy Roman Empire" is unholy thoughts, roman candles & empire waists. I have failed; sorry.

since it's technically tax day, read about this. Police officers lied to them (on video) telling them they were committing a crime by staging a legal tax protest, and when they respectfully, politely and repeatedly asked what crimes they were committing, they were arrested. And convicted... of delaying a police officer.

I'm already annoyed about the 30 minute long conversation my old man cube mate is going to pester me with as soon as I walk into the cube tomorrow morning at 6:00 AM. I'm pretty sure it makes him feel better to know he's pretending to be wide awake and chipper on Monday morning when I, a young whipper snapper, have no problem admitting I'm tired and don't like Mondays.

I realize he probably doesn't have much going on in his life but he pisses me off so badly one of the days I'm just going to walk into the cube with my hand up just say, STFU! DON'T TALK TO ME UNTIL 8. AND I HATE BASKETBALL SO STOP TELLING ME ABOUT IT. I won't really, because if you say anything mean to him or even mildly let him know he's annoying you, he gets upset and won't talk to you and will make a point to have loud conversations with everyone else in the cube for the rest of the day, so you know you're excluded.

@shrdlu: Re: Your link to "BEST SONG EVER RECORDED." From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for that link! Have no idea how I've lived SO long w/o hearing that. Priceless! :-\

It might also win an award for being the song most politically incorrect. Which brings to mind another rant of mine: IMO, Political Correctness has gone a bit too far. Enough, okay? Common sense should prevail. Wait - I think common sense is a forgotten, lost trait. :-( ....I seem to be in a loop now. (See excellent curse words written by @lpgstock.)

@meh3884: If it's any consolation, I hate Monday's, too. And I've been retired for many years. I think it's a left-over sour lingering memory. Monday's are only good if they're the 3rd day of a 3 day weekend. ...Then Tuesday's become the hate target.

Re: Your old cube-mate: Hope for an early retirement. And make STFU your SILENT mantra. ;-)

It annoys when people eat a stop sign, forcing me to nail my brakes, when there is no one behind me for blocks. It really annoys me when they then crawl along looking for parking or an address or some such.

Lonnie Donegan first did the chewing gum song in 1958 or 1959 and it went to #5 on the Billboard top 100 in 1961. The song is on the Dr Demento 20th Anniversary Collection album (which is how I have a copy). Thanks for the Ahab song... it's been a long time since I've heard it.

Well my business is failing, I have no money, I hate where we live, my 2 year old son said the F word about an hour ago, my cell phone isn't working right and I need to buy another, I need new tires on my crappy car,we ran out of toilet paper and I need to go to the bathroom,my computer is broken, we were going to the pool and it started raining, I stepped in dog poo while taking out the trash while all this is happening I still try and be grateful for what I have, that's whats wrong with America people are to focused on the negativity and not the positive things going on. I own my own business I'm pretty broke but we still find a way to get by, my 2 year old is healthy and smart and loves his daddy, I have the ability to own a cell phone even if it's not the cool new Iphone. It's all about how you look at things I'm a glass half full kinda guy.

@jseureau: Agree w/you about looking at the positive side. It makes life pleasant to focus on the up-side. :-D You have been handed a few lemons & not only make lemonade, but realize that it's better than being w/o a drop of water. Life IS good. ...And champagne might be in the future.

@baqui63: I had to read the first paragraph you wrote about ten times, trying to figure out what "eat a stop sign" meant, in some vernacular I clearly was not privy to. Ohhh (I finally said), you meant beat a stop sign and didn't notice the typo.

Yeah, I know who the original singer was for the song (and I loved early Dr Demento, who gave me a fondness for Weird Al that will last beyond the grave). I couldn't find a copy of the song on youtube (and I did NOT try very hard) that was even remotely audible. The link I provided sucked too, but at least you could (mostly) understand it. Those lyrics I provided have mistakes too. Where it says:

Can you catch it on your tonsils
Can you heave it left and right

is wrong. That should be and yer heavin' left and righteee eee (which always had the effect of making me laugh when I heard it).

My rant has nothing to do w/ taxes... I know I'll sound like a Scrooge, but I'm sick to death of wedding & baby showers that are over-the-top, and outrageously big weddings. I'm tired of being invited to showers/weddings in which folks are registered at stores I would never shop at (because they're so expensive) and items that are expensive to the point of idiocy. I do believe in showers & celebrations for big events in ppl's lives, but I think they shouldn't be freakin' state affairs, with invitations to everyone who ever learned your name.

@pamfenway: Please...I absolutely did NOT intend for this to be a 'tax' rant. Choose your own peeve & yell! I, too, do not like the constant, "Give me a gift attitude." And, do not attend ANY of those functions. Crap! I don't like funerals either. Rather share my good wishes (weddings, babies, etc.) & sympanthy (deaths) privately.

@gmwhit: My older sister and I worked at the same job, made similar amounts of money, and filed out self employment returns together. I had to pay in (since we each had no withholding during the year) for mine. She got a check for a few thousand dollars - without having paid in anything. I would look at her every year and say, "you're welcome." Even she thought it was ridiculous.

@shrdlu: i grew up on ray, so whereas i like the song i think there are better ones out there. if you like ray try homer and jethro--very hard to find their earlier works. but here is my suggestion for today:

@gmwhit: are woot! rants allowed? hope so: why do they bother wanting tattles if they aren't willing to act on them in a timely fashion (two or three days). it seems the only way to get them acted on is to openly complain. i've tattled till my fingers are sore and the items are still listed! i've had better results when asking the company posters to rip their stuff sometimes. it would seem that woot! could even impliment a limit on number of active post a company/poster could have (say 100 active before you must rip to post more).

thank you. i've been wanting this rant for over a week now. rant over.

@moosezilla: You can make ranting a weekly feature as long as you have a positive thread to balance it out, although frankly I rather people did not. :P (There's a lot of negativity on a daily basis, but I can dig the need for people to get things out of their system.)

"Eating a stop sign" means rolling through one without stopping; it can be anything from treating it like a Yield sign to completely ignoring it.

I just wandered around my office and asked the first ten people I saw if they were familar with the phrase "eat a stop sign." It was evenly mixed.

One guy pointed out that it was a "regional thing" from upstate NY and that the only reason he knew of it was because he went to college near Syracuse, NY (at SUNY Morrisville, aka Moo-ville). My office-mate (who also knows the term) lived in Syracuse from about age 12.

So maybe this is just an upstate NY thing, though I'm a downstate Newyorker. (I'm tempted to post a question asking about this but really don't want to do anything to boost my rep... I tattled a deal on Saturday and jumped from 94ish up to 95ish.)

@baqui63: I know people from upstate NY. They told me to tell you to lay off the crack pipe for a while. It's not only regional, it may be age specific as well (they said something about anyone using the phrase being an old fart, and I reminded them that I resemble that remark, and have been known to be physically violent).

I prefer to consider it a "thinko" (like a typo, but brain related).

Funny though, how something that seems universal can be confined to a narrow region, rather like Soda vs Pop, or Tissue vs Kleenex (although the areas of the country that use one or the other of those are far larger than the suburban outskirts of Watertown).

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